Weight training machines are highly popular with people interested in exercising to maintain their health and appearance. Conventional weight training machines typically include a weight stack that provides a variable load, and one or more exercise stations coupled to the weight stack that enable a person to exercise different portions of their body. One of the exercise stations is typically a high pull (or lat) station that is situated relatively high on the exercise machine, and that enables a user to perform a variety of different exercises, including exercises that shape and tone the muscles of the upper body.
For example, FIG. 1 is an isometric view of an exercise machine 100 that includes a high pull station 114 in accordance with the prior art. The high pull station 114 is positioned at the end of a support member 120 that extends outwardly from an upright support 118 of a support frame 109. A pull bar 115 is coupled to a cable 117 that is engaged over a pulley 119 attached to the end of the support member 120. In turn, the cable 117 is operatively coupled to a weight stack 105 partially enclosed within a shroud 112. A user may select a desired training weight, and then exert a training force on the pull bar 115 to perform the desired exercises.
In the example shown in FIG. 1, the exercise machine 100 also includes a press station 102 having a press arm 106 pivotally coupled to a first upright member 108 of the support frame 109. The press arm 106 includes a laterally-extending member 110 that is operatively coupled by a cable-and-pulley assembly (not shown) to a weight stack 105 partially enclosed within a shroud 112. The exercise machine 100 further includes a butterfly station 116 that is also operatively coupled to the weight stack 105. Exercise machines of the type shown in FIG. 1 are described more fully, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,779,601 issued to Ish, which patent is incorporated herein by reference.
Although desirable results have been achieved using prior art exercise machines of the type shown in FIG. 1, there is room for improvement. For example, in the above-described apparatus, users of different sizes may have different levels of satisfaction when using the high pull station 114. Relatively smaller users may not be able to reach the pull bar 115, or may only reach the pull bar 115 with difficulty, while relatively taller users may reach the pull bar 115 easily but may find that the effective range of pull of the high pull station 114 does not fully satisfy their training needs. Novel apparatus and methods that mitigate these characteristics of prior art exercise machines would be useful.